The Spread of the Gospel and the Growth of the Church

Acts

　

This is a really special day to celebrate our babies, our new members, and baptisms. And it is a particular joy and encouragement to hear of how God has used us/Renewal to save some.

I’d like to survey a selection of verses from the book of Acts to draw a few inferences. See if you notice any themes/patterns.

2:47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

5:14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

5:42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

6:7 [after deacons were appointed] So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

11:20-21 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

12:24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.

13:49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

28:31 Boldly and without hindrance [Paul] preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

In a word, the book of Acts is about the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church. It is a description of how a small group of followers huddled in an upper room, had the HS come upon them, and they took the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection throughout the known world, and thousands upon thousands were saved.

The key verse in Acts is 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And we see that working out (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth) in the rest of the book.

Let me make two observations:

1. The early church had a message to proclaim.

Notice so many times we read, “the word of God continued to increase and spread,” “they proclaimed the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” In the rest of the NT we see Paul in particular emphasizing this core message, the good news of Jesus, the Gospel.

The movement of God, begun in the book of Acts, is the movement of a message, good news, a Gospel. And the church was about the business of spreading this message wherever they went.

The church was not a group of consumers or spectators. They were witnesses. Those early Christians were the means by which this Gospel spread throughout the known world.

There are many things a church should do, many good and important things. But we must remember the main thing to which we are called: we are called to proclaim the Gospel.

I recently heard a well-known pastor say, life is about being good and doing good. I respectfully disagree. Our message is that we aren’t good and we don’t do enough good. We’ll never be good enough or do enough. Even as a Christian (pastor) in ourselves, we’ll never be good enough or do enough.

But God came down and lived a perfect life. He was perfectly good and did everything good. And He offers to be our Savior, our Hero. He says, let go of all your efforts to be good enough or do enough good in yourself, acknowledge that we’re far more sinful than we realize, and rest in my grace. The good news is not that we’re good enough but that Jesus is good enough.

I’ve been feeling particularly swamped in recent weeks. There’s a lot going on at church, and I’ll share more at our members meeting next week. I could feel this pressure. For things to work out well, in order to manage all that’s going on, I’ve got a lot of work to do. I need to be good and do good, a lot of good. But that’s not the Gospel. The good news is that Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, Jesus is the Head of the Church, Jesus is the Savior, the Hero, and He’s in control. My focus, my hope, my peace and joy is not that I can be good enough but that Jesus is good enough.

We have a message to proclaim: we have a Savior, a Hero, and his name is Jesus.

2. God saved people through that message.

In the book of Acts we see two things happened: (1) the Apostles and early Christians went everywhere preaching the Gospel, and, (2) people were being saved; “the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

The connection is obvious: God was saving people through the preaching of his Gospel.

Paul writes in Romans that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (1:16)

I believe God has been leading me and our church in growing deeper in our understanding and power of the Gospel. And I believe there is a correlation between the growing understanding and proclamation of the Gospel and the testimonies of salvation through Renewal.

I believe this is the work of God. Be encouraged. God is working in our church.

God is working in teaching Christians what the Gospel means (starting with me).

And God is working in teaching nonChristians what the Gospel means.

We’ve been emphasizing how Christians are impacted by the Gospel, but we must not forget that nonChristians also are impacted by the Gospel. This Gospel saves people.

　

Let us grow in our own Gospel Living, learning how to preach the Gospel to ourselves.

Let that transform our relationships and community here, learning how to preach the Gospel to one another.

Let us also take that message to our classmates, co-workers, neighbors and friends, sharing with deep authenticity the Gospel that has transformed our own lives.